Broadcasts for news or media shows or for personal use may stream multiple video, audio, graphics and/or text objects, simultaneously, using separate media layers. Such broadcasts can occur via standard broadcast format, e.g., on a monitor display, or via Internet, e.g., in a webpage. Each media layer may be a static object (e.g., a logo or title of the broadcast) or may be dynamic (e.g., a news ticker or video player).
Different media layers may have different media sources. For example, layer 1 (the primary layer) may be a media show (e.g., recorded via one or more video cameras), layer 2 may be a logo for the network (e.g., uploaded from a computer) and layer 3 may be a news ticker (e.g., streamed from a news server). However, regardless of the diversity of data sources, all the media layers may be assembled and merged at a centralized server into a single media stream transmitted to all the viewer devices for display. Accordingly, every viewers' broadcast is identical. Furthermore, since the media layers are merged before transmission, every viewer's broadcast is fixed and can only be passively viewed, not actively manipulated. Such systems may prevent interactive or collaborative broadcast environments.